VENEZUELA. The coffee plant was introduced into Venezuela in 1784, being brought from Martinique; and the first shipment abroad, consisting of 233 bags, was made five years later. By 1830-31, production had increased to 25,454,000 pounds; and in the next twenty years, it more than trebled, amounting to 83,717,000 pounds in 1850-51. Since then, however, the increase has been much more gradual. In 1881-82, 94,369,000 pounds were produced; and about the same amount, 95,170,000 pounds, in 1889-90. Twentieth-century production has apparently exceeded the hundred-million mark on the average, although there are no definite statistics beyond export figures. These showed 86,950,000 pounds sent abroad in 1904-05; 103,453,000 pounds in 1908-09; and 88,155,000 pounds in 1918; the trade in the last-named year being cut down by war conditions. In 1919, the extraordinary amount of 179,414,815 pounds was exported, the high figure being due to the release of coffee stored from previous years. It has been estimated that domestic consumption of coffee would amount to a maximum of 25,000,000 pounds yearly, but may be much less than that. The United States and France have in the past been Venezuela's best customers. COLOMBIA. Prior to 1912, the total production of coffee in Colombia was around 80,000,000 pounds annually, of which some 3,000,000 or 4,000,000 pounds were consumed in the country itself. But in the last decade production has been advancing rapidly, and the present production is the heaviest in the history of the country. The industry has practically grown up in the last seventy years, the exports for the decade 1852-53 to 1861-62 averaging only about 940,000 pounds; in the decade following, about 5,700,000 pounds; and, in the ten years from 1872-73 to 1881-82, about 12,600,000 pounds, according to an unofficial compilation. Exportations had advanced to about 47,000,000 pounds by 1895; and to 80,000,000 pounds by 1906. As large quantities of Colombian coffee are shipped out through Venezuela, and because of the lack of detailed statistics in Colombia, the actual exportation each year is not easy to determine; but the following figures, obtained by a trade commissioner of the United States, may be taken as a fairly accurate estimate of exports from 1906 to 1918: COLUMBIAN COFFEE EXPORTS _Year_ _Sacks (138 lbs.)_ 1906 605,705 1907 541,300 1908 577,900 1909 673,350 1910 543,000 1911 601,600 1912 888,800 1913 972,000 1914 983,000 1915 1,074,600 1916 1,153,000 1917 1,093,000 1918 1,102,000 [Illustration: No. 3--BRAZIL'S COFFEE EXPORTS, 1850-1920 Diagram based on 5-year averages with quantities given in millions of pounds]